


You're the Monster

by BlackWolf2Dragoon



Series: Monstrosity Case [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adult Frisk, Cheeky Sans, Dark Comedy, Disturbing Themes, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Minor Original Character(s), Murder Mystery, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Police Officer Frisk, Racism, Suggestive Themes, Undertale Monsters on the Surface, maybe smut?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2018-11-11 10:51:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11146920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackWolf2Dragoon/pseuds/BlackWolf2Dragoon
Summary: Slowly but surely, humans and monsters were beginning to get along. Fears of each other beginning to settle as they grow slowly used to each other. Inspector Frisk begins to look forward to a normal life. Then a dead body turns up. Clues to the case match up to a case Frisk was involved in. Frisk works against the clock, before the murder ruins her hard work to bring monsters and humans together.Sans is left in the dark. His girlfriend being more distant than her usual self, he supports her through the case whilst trying to puzzle together what she's thinking.Sequel to Monsters Aren't Real. Probably readable without reading that one, since it's Undertale but Police Officer Frisk instead of child Frisk.





	1. Fanshaw and Serif On the Case

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Sorry this took so long to get this sequel going. This is the third time writing this chapter. I always suck at writing a beginning so I do hope this doesn't turn you away aha. 
> 
> Edits made. Check by as chapter 1 has completely changed from previous!
> 
> Sorry this has undergone a huge change for you guys! Only chapter one, but it changed entirely what I was going to plan for later as well, in a way! I know it's sloppy work and that should never have happened and I've never done that to you guys before. I apologise! Usually I stick with it in the end, but I just couldn't this time. 
> 
> I'm hoping this new chapter and the new direction is going to be better! I feel a bit better of it. I guess we'll just wait and see.
> 
> With that out of the way. I do hope you enjoy this second installment of the Monstrosity Case!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two-ish years later, Frisk and Sans are working together, one still a police officer, the other a computer forensics expert. A dead body has been found dumped in a bin, Frisk and Sans are on the case to finding out any clues they can to the murder. 
> 
> Things get rocky as they find some clues leading to things Frisk doesn't want to handle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys! This is the real chapter 1 with the new changes and the new direction this story is going to be going in. I'm so sorry I've had to do this, but I've said it all in the notes to the whole story. I feel like a parrot saying it here again aha
> 
> So, this is going to be a true and proper murder mystery. It's probably going to be more like CSI than a real representation of how the police officers deal with murder crimes. Because I have no idea. Shocking, right? So CSI it is. If it seems ridiculous, it probably is. I haven't done a degree in law or anything, I ain't smart enough for that shit. I'm working with the best I've got xD 
> 
> I'll stop blabbing now~ I'll let you enjoy the ride and see what you think of it~!

Fanshaw and Serif On the Case

"hey."

She screams, about as much as she is willing to let herself scream anyway. She turns on me sharply, once she gets over her pounding heart and her brain comes to a slow realisation. "Oh my God, every time. When is that going to get old?"

I grin, it'll never get old, not really. "dunno. maybe eventually." I tell her, just because I know it will annoy her more. Frisk does as I expect, she rolls her eyes, sighing in an exaggerated manner before she turns back to look back at the front of her cop car. She always says she'll get in trouble for letting me teleport into her cop car and having my fun with her. But I know that they don't care up top. So long as she does her job and it don't look bad on her, I know she'll be fine.

Things on the surface have been progressing well, actually. I hadn't expected it, but Frisk had surprised me. She was extremely charismatic and managed to convince most humans that we hadn't meant any harm, we just wanted to live on the surface in peace and mingle in. It surprised her too, considering she told me recently some countries are very wary and even hostile to, what she called, 'immigrants'. I didn't get it, she told me she didn't really either but explained it the best she could. Since she worked as a cop, she saw all types of people, what they were didn't matter, you weren't born that way after all. Many, many people though didn't see it that way. Frisk says she thinks the media is doing more bad than good, but she has always hated the media.

She had some help from Toriel, Asgore and most of all, as much as I hate to admit it, the tin bot was useful. Mettaton's charisma had helped him become a celebrity on the surface, win the hearts of many, many girls, became a big hit almost instantaneously. Frisk had been right. it'd go either way, humans hating us and demanding we get thrown back underground, or they'd love us and we'd get a lot more recognition than most. Humans had loved us, not all, but most. Instantly, there were protests to keep us above ground, to teach them magic (which we could not do), teach them about SOULs and more. Ebott was still the most heavily populated for monsters, a lot of monsters were still too scared to reach further out of the world, some even intended to never leave the Underground, happy to keep things the way they were. I understood it, I suppose.

Frisk and I moved to London quickly afterwards, since trying to get monsters more included into society and be abided by the same laws that humans had required a lot of travel to the capital. She was recommended highly to the London area. I didn't ask how it works, Frisk didn't give an explanation other than they love their code names, so others listening didn't know what they were talking about. London reminded me a little of the Capital, overcrowded, loud and covered in lights. However, London had something special about it. Frisk and I got a room in a flat, we didn't need much space and this flat had a nice view to it. We took Shadow out for a walk every day if we could, the flat didn't have a garden for him so we had to take him down the stairs and a walk around the park for him. Shadow was still Frisk's canine companion, though there hadn't been many incidents where Shadow was required. I felt a little for the guy, but I guess that's just how humans worked.

"Car 127, report in. Over." Sounded from the radio. I didn't understand the use of numbers, but it was something Frisk was used to.

She didn't hesitate at all to answer the call on the radio. "Car 127 checking in. What's the problem? Over."

"We have a 23-19 over at area 46, we need you to report in, and bring your monster too. Over."

23-19? I hadn't had the same training that most others have had, normally I wasn't even meant to be in the cars, but they stopped trying to stop me when they realised I could be anywhere I wanted. They learnt quickly, at least. The look on Frisk's face told me it was serious. She looked... a little ill. This must be one of the worse ones, and apparently, they needed me there too.

I helped work with the forensics team, after Frisk convinced me that I could do it. I told her it was the wrong science, but she insisted. So, I went to get a PHD, succeeded in two years and got a job in her area. So. We sorta work together. And live together. It's about as perfect as I wanted it to be. 'Course, being forensics it meant I got to see all the gross dead humans, but I was already pretty much desensitised to that sort of stuff, it's what RESETS do to you. It was fascinating to see what was inside a human, it still freaked me out to see a skull under all that blood and... yeah. Human bodies are gross.

"Roger that, moving in to area 46, monster in the car. Over and out." Frisk said into the car walkie talkie, before she started the car and turned on the sirens. I got myself comfortable in the front and put on my seat belt.

"so. guess it was a good call i told 'em i was taking lunch break with ya, eh?" I glanced at Frisk, trying to lighten the mood a little bit. Mostly for her, and so she doesn't worry. Maybe she is trying not to trigger any past memories or trauma, but she has been walking a little on egg shells around me. I had tried telling her she didn't need to, but I knew what Frisk was like. She'd worry anyway. Bless her heart. It was the little things like that that still made my SOUL sing.

"Yeah, though you probably won't want to eat after this." Frisk sighed, pulling out into the road and speeding through the city towards our destination. "23-19 is a murder call." Oh. Tonight wasn't gonna be a pretty one.

Well, when we got there, there were plenty of cops blocking the way. The whole alley had been taped off, Frisk flashed her badge, I had to flash mine (I always wanted to do that) to be allowed through. They gave me a second look, as I never wore my uniform instead staying with my usual blue parka, undershirt, sweat bottoms and trainers. Frisk, being a detective in London, didn't need to wear a set uniform, but had to wear a shirt and dress nicely.

"Detective Inspector Frisk, Sans Serif, glad you could join us." A man in his 40s, Frisk's immediate boss Chief Inspector Jamie Morris, held out his hand to greet Frisk and I. He didn't care he was shaking hands with a monster, his SOUL calm in my presence. I hadn't met him often, from time to time as he wasn't really the boss of me, but him and Frisk met plenty of times.

"No probs, guv. What've we got?" She asks as Jamie led us to the crime scene. They hadn't had a forensics expert over yet, that much was certain as the scene hadn't been disturbed and no numbered stands had been put out either. This was probably why they called Frisk, knowing I would be with her and there faster than the other forensic teams.

The scene, however, well so far it hadn't been covered in blood from floor to ceiling. Though, we were walking towards an industrial sized bin we were sure belonged to a restaurant or pub, given its size. The lid was open, letting the smell of rotting flesh and food to escape.  There was a step ladder nearby, where they needed to get some height over the bin to see properly inside. I wasted no time, getting up and taking in the sight of the dead body of a young man, mid 20s or so, dark ruffled brown hair dressed for a meeting, briefcase on top of him as if dumped last minute, eyes open wide in terror as he died and the signal for how he died, a long thin dark bruise line around his neck.

"We've only had the time to corner the crime scene and keep the public away, I've had a quick look inside but haven't looked for any I.D." His phone began ringing. "I'll leave you to the scene and the team." He said simply and walked away, answering and talking on his phone. It’s like he was more of a manager instead of a police officer. Then again, what did I know? I’m a monster, unused to human customs.

I was bitter against most of the humans. Whilst the process was quick to being allowed to mingle on planet Earth along with humans, we hadn’t done it for free. Frisk knew herself, though she never brought it up, the only reason the government let us roam so quickly was because of our gold. The country we were in, being the United Kingdom, was in trouble after it broke relations with the EU. Apparently, the European Union, Frisk had tried to explain best she could, was the unification of several countries that added protection to the common folk and working conditions. There was a lot more to it, but Frisk didn’t understand it, and apparently neither did most people. Our gold had apparently saved the country from bankruptcy and had saved it from a deficit. It was the only thing that finally convinced the government that we were worth keeping around. Our magic tricks had done nothing to convince them, if anything it made them more nervous than they had been previously. But as soon as they saw our gold, their opinions changed 180 degrees. I wasn’t an idiot, I remember reading that human greed knew no bounds. The number one reason humans got into so much trouble was greed. However, Asgore felt like he had no other choice if we wanted to be free. It was a small price to pay on our part, we would be able to join human society with a bit of money in our pockets and the law on our side.

Some business took to us, others not so much. Monsters could open their own businesses and most flourished. Humans were very curious creatures it seemed, it certainly explained Frisk’s actions Underground. Or perhaps not, Frisk was a one of a kind, after all.

Back at the task at hand, Frisk began taking pictures with a camera. She asked if I could bring in the specialist forensics expert, Doctor Diana Wandsworth. She was the best of the best, though I tried to avoid her out of work hours if I could. She was absolutely fascinated with monsters, having studied dead humans most of her career, so when a monster was joining the forensics team, she jumped at the chance to introduce herself to me. Then she never left me alone, asking questions after questions, how my body worked, how I could move, have facial expressions, almost like I were a project. Don’t get me wrong, I totally get her outlook, there were times I had wondered the same about Frisk. How does her SOUL just shine so brightly? None of those she could ever answer, not when she had only just realised she even had a SOUL and that they existed when she fell into the Underground. Tori had taught her the most she knew and nothing beyond that.

With an exaggerated sigh of impending doom, I teleported to grab the Doc quickly. She was where we figured she’d be, on her phone going through Facebook. Doctor Diana Wandsworth was a very smart woman, several PHDs to her name and reminded me a lot of Alphys. She didn’t have the craze for anime like Alphys, rather she didn’t much care for it, but she did enjoy books. A lot of them. Sci-fi and horror mostly. A great number I have read at her recommendation, Frisk and I would never have bothered with the War of the Worlds musical without her, albeit not a book but the one thing Frisk and I enjoyed immensely together. She went on blogging sites a lot similarly to Alphys, though she hardly ever posted. She said she was a ‘lurker’, apparently a person or being who reads and watches without posting or commenting. It went way over my head, honestly.

She didn’t even flinch when I greeted her. “What’s the problem?” She was scrolling through her phone whilst talking to me, didn’t even lift her head to look at me.

It didn’t bother me, I knew she was listening. I also knew that one word about this case would have her freaking out. “got a dead body, human, male, 20s or summat. found in a dustbin. guess he had hell of ya party, eh? got absolutely trashed.” I chuckled at my own pun. Honestly, were you really living if you didn’t throw out a pun or two every so often?

Diana didn’t give a crap, apparently. Or, she did, she was playing hard to get. “Wow, he’s been dead a day and already making fun of his death?” Diana smiled. “You’re slowly becoming one of us, bone man!” She stood up, stretching as she did. Diana was about average for a human adult female, 5’4, dyed her hair white as her doctors’ uniform and she was in her 40s. She’d been in forensics for almost ten years, now the person to go to when you have a dead body and murder you need to solve. She was great at autopsies, to find out how a human died. She was working her way to being able to tell when a monster and how a monster died, with the help of myself. It was a fair trade, she was teaching me the ways of the human body, whilst I taught her the ways of the monster body. Only, there wasn’t much to tell about monster bodies, being so different from humans and majority of monsters’ health being told on their SOUL, rather than their bodies. When a monster dies, it was either murder, an accident or natural causes. So far, monsters didn’t suffer diseases such as humans did. First time Frisk had a cold I remember freaking out, thinking she was suffering horrifically, as her SOUL drooped lazily. She explained what a ‘cold’ was, very basic without the biology of it, and felt bad for her.

When I found out all about other diseases, finding out about the awful ones, horrific ones… I’ll admit, I said I was glad I was never leaving this country where the worst disease you could get was the flu. Frisk had laughed at that, patting my head much like she would’ve Shadow’s and apologised for laughing. I remember telling her I wouldn’t buy her a spider doughnut at the shop again when she felt low. Immediately, she apologised promising she’d never laugh at me again and that I was a saint etc.

It always seemed to work for her, somehow.

Diana snapped her fingers, waking me up from my reminiscing. “You going to take me to the body? I’m assuming that’s why you’re here and not with your girl.” Diana snarked. She always seemed a bit… jealous of Frisk. I had to admit. I was no fool, I knew Diana had been looking at me for a good time, but I simply saw her as a friend and had told her as such. She’d given up flirting after that, but that didn’t mean Frisk didn’t have a hard time. She’d never bad mouth Frisk in front her, nor me, but there was that tone in her voice that let me know she wasn’t friendly with Frisk.

I gave her a grin. “of course, and eager to get back to her.” I hadn’t meant to egg her on, but sometimes she pushed a few buttons. When you pushed my buttons, I pushed back. Doesn’t make it right, but made me feel better. Diana snorted. Normally, we were alright, she just had her moments when it came to any mention of Frisk. But hey, she brought it up this time. She quickly grabbed the tools and bags she would need for the job. I held my hand out for her to take, which she took quickly enough and teleported back to the scene of the crime.

Somehow missing a police officer who hadn’t been paying attention. The number of times I had almost hit someone when teleporting, more than usual. I still never got used to there being so many people sometimes. Usually a force would just push them away if I were to teleport them into a space, like the fabric of the void wouldn’t allow them to touch it.

Diana was used to teleporting now, the police found it very cost efficient to use my abilities for occasions such as this, but only Diana (fair trade for learning from her) and Frisk. And only one at a time. Diana shrugged off the feeling, passing by the police officers who were talking amongst themselves. Frisk was close at the scene, peering down at the dead man’s body.

She turns when she hears us approaching. “Just in time, the press just turned up with a crowd. I’ve got the boys keeping them back to leave you alone.” She had turned in Cop Frisk, the one that was all business. “We haven’t touched him yet, we’ve only opened the bin and the barman who found him freaked out too much before he threw the bags in. Barman said he found him like this at 4am, he was just finishing his shift and throwing the rubbish out before he was heading home. His co-worker called the police for him whilst he recovered. He seems to be okay now after a glass of water and talking to one of the constables now.”

Maybe it was a police thing or a woman thing, I’m not sure, but both spoke business, as if they had never fought previously nor had conflicts of interest. “Alright, keep the area clear, I’ll get the photos done. Any idea who he is?”

Frisk shrugged. “We haven’t moved him yet, waiting until you give the coast is clear before we check for any ID. There wasn’t any shown clearly on his bag and the barman has no idea who the guy is. Says he wasn’t even in the bar last night. He looks like he’s just come from a very important meeting, I don’t get what meeting is so important he was walking back late at night. If he died late at night that is. We got no reference on his time of death either.” Not that she would have. That was Diana’s job to figure that out.

Murder cases weren’t exactly common, but they weren’t too uncommon either. I knew the steps that would be taken, though I’d only seen it a handful of times. Most murder cases were obvious, after gathering the evidence and checking CCTV it became fairly obvious who the killer was. Not many tried to hide the body in a dustbin, however.

Clearly from what Diana was explaining, the body had been dumped in here, though from looking at the surrounding area it wasn’t clear if he was carried or dragged. The cause of death was probably strangulation if the mark on his neck was any indication, but there could be more to the story. There was no sign of any rope, cable or anything capable of causing such damage to his neck. There was simply his briefcase that hadn’t even been opened, his body and the clothes he was wearing and that was about the extent of it. Nothing else.

Diana declared it clear after she was done taking pictures and explaining what she could from this. She got her team who had arrived soon after she was done to take the body out of the bin and into a body bag for her to examine in an autopsy later. When the body was out of the bin, Frisk jumped at the chance, after she had put on latex gloves, to grab the briefcase and see what was inside.

His ID was the first thing that jumped out at us. His name was Callum Leonard, born June 19th, 24 years old and seemed to be assistant manager of a bank. Just a normal human bank, not even a monster run bank. He had his wallet in his briefcase with some cash, drivers licence, bank card and all sorts. He’d been killed, but not robbed?

“What the hell was the motive behind killing him like this?” Frisk spoke aloud. “It clearly wasn’t for his money and I wouldn’t have thought an ex-girlfriend would do this. Not on her own anyway.” She looks around the area, as if trying to find any other clue jumping out at her. Nothing, by the looks of her defeated face. I took a glance around, but couldn’t find anything but… something didn’t sit right. I couldn’t pinpoint on what, exactly, if it was a feeling I had or if I was maybe apprehensive about this, I’m not sure. “Let’s get to your office, I’m thinking we’ll need your computer expertise to see who this guy hangs around.”

Normally, I’d make a joke about how we were going into an office, alone, undisturbed. The fact that I hadn’t did have her looking my way. In concern, I wasn’t sure, though I kept a brave face on. It wasn’t like I could tell her. What, I felt a bit off? How? I couldn’t explain the feeling, but it was putting me off. It was frustrating, I couldn’t pinpoint where I had felt that before. Or what it even was. I shook my head, grinning my usual poker face to her. “sure thing, boss. if it means we can get away from this horrible smell. It’s absolutely rubbish.” Frisk rolled her eyes, holding out her hand to me. She loved me really.

My office was… an office. I hadn’t bothered to decorate it too much, it was a desk with a computer and a laptop nearby with files all over the place. Diana had told me off about it, but I never saw the need to be tidy. Everything I needed was on the computer or laptop anyway. There was a bookcase on the side of the room filled with all sorts of books I had read whilst studying for my PHD as well as some informative books I had brought from Underground. Excluding my notes from the lab. Not even Frisk had read them yet. That was a box of surprises I wasn’t ready to open yet. Even after two years. There wasn’t much else special about it, I had my name on the door and I had a picture of Papyrus, Frisk and I together on my desk. We had taken it as soon as we had gotten out of Mount Ebott, right as the sun was setting. It still is to this day the best day of my life. I kept a second copy right by my bedside table at home, just so I remembered I was still above ground in London.

Frisk and I made our way to the computer, she let me sit at my desk whilst she held the ID card out for me to grab a name from. Callum Leonard did indeed have a facebook page, always worth checking out as recently feuds had been more common online and then breaking out into the real world than most would think. Looking into his facebook profile (note; hacking of course) he hadn’t had any conflicts really. He seemed to be a rather analytical man, to the point and seemed rather down to earth. He didn’t seem to have much of a funny bone, but he didn’t get into arguments about politics or anything online either. He seemed pleasant enough, friendly whilst appearing just that. Didn’t seem like he had a girlfriend, or a boyfriend for that matter. Perhaps he simply didn’t care? He wasn’t interested?

Taking longer to look at his computer history, he wasn’t entirely uninterested. He seemed to look up some questionable sites, but it was about the usual. Tame porn. We did manage to get an address to where he lived, however. His ID included his current address, checking the database it seemed that he did indeed still live there. At least, he paid his bills with the same billing address that was on his driver’s license. It was a safe bet. We made a note of the address so we knew where to look for any potential clues. He had a living mother, however she lived over eighty miles away. A task for one of Frisk’s constables to get a hold of her and give her the grave news before the press got their stories out. It would be the worst for a family member to find out first hand through the press rather than a professional police officer. A phone call was probably not the best, but there was nothing else Frisk could do for her being so far away.

“Doesn’t seem like he’s caused any trouble, didn’t have a girlfriend or boyfriend. His wallet wasn’t taken, he wasn’t beaten so far we know. So, what the hell was he killed for!?” Frisk, it seemed, didn’t like to be stumped. I had seen her frustrated before, but I hadn’t seen hear truly and positively annoyed. Until today, that is. “Can you get into his business account or something? From here, I mean?”

I blinked, rather surprised by how worked up she was getting over this case. A case that was only a few hours old in fact. “should be able to. hand me his business ID and I can give it a go.” I held out my hand for it. Without a comment, Frisk handed it to me. I took her hand, not letting go when she made the motion to let go and give the card to me. “hey. you okay there?”

Frisk blinked. It took her a good moment or two. She then sighs. “Yeah, sorry. I’m being a little silly, aren’t I?” She rubs the back of her head with her other hand. “I don’t like criminals getting the better of me. I’m not used to it, not when it comes to murderers. I’m still considered rather new to this. You remember the missing children of Ebott was actually my first missing/murder case, right?”

I felt for her. Really, I did. Dealing with the aftermath of the children was not an easy task. She had to be truthful, she couldn’t live her life by lying and saying the children had all died by natural causes. Some of them had; William Prince, Allan Baker and Oliver Sanders to name them. Though, it didn’t look too good. Dogamy and Dogaressa did have to spend a little time in jail, although only for two weeks as the court soon found them not guilty. It was only because they had gotten a jury that were from outside of Ebott that they weren’t immediately sent to jail without a fair trial. It took a lot of explaining how monsters felt harmed, how we thought humans were dangerous and thought we were at war and that they knew that before they understood why the dogs had reacted the way they had.

Undyne, however, was not so lucky. Charged with the murder of two children, the Walters brothers, she was sentenced to jail time, ten years. She was to serve five of them, maybe less if she behaved better. She got less time than others because of the same reasons applying to Dogamy and Dogaressa’s case. She was charged for murder as she had intended on killing humans for Asgore himself and the note that the Walters brothers had written had been used against Undyne. The kids hadn’t made the first move, so Undyne could not claim self-defence. However, she could not be sent to a normal jail cell like most other criminals. The reason? The jails were rather full and monsters hadn’t yet been given complete human rights yet. So, they would not be able to lawfully do anything if she were attacked.

So, for the first few months, she was housed up and on house arrest at Frisk’s house. I couldn’t stay over, but that worked fine for me as I was studying my PhD at the time. Whilst Undyne was staying there, monsters were working together with humans to build a brand-new jail funded by Asgore himself. He would own the land it was on; however, the police would use it should any monsters break the law. It was to be for monsters only, even if it was for minor crimes and just there for the night. When it was finally finished, Undyne was sent there to serve her time. The place was run by Lesser Dog, Greater Dog, Doggo and other members of the dog clan. Papyrus worked there too, happy to be guarding and cooking the inmates’ food. He got the best of both worlds and I was happy for him. Even though Undyne was charged and sentenced there, she didn’t mind it all too much since most of her friends worked there. Alphys was allowed to visit every day under supervision, but for jail time, she was doing well enough. It was still a jail cell, at the end of the day and she was missing all the sights and such behind bars, but that was the cost to being too eager to please your King.

Asgore got away with it all. He was the king of monsters and far too important. Plus, he had never actually killed a person, although he had declared a war on humans. Messy political businesses kept him away from jail. Building it probably helped too.

Frisk continued. “There’s absolutely no motive that I can think of that would make sense. This guy hasn’t made enemies, he’s not really high enough in the business to be a huge target, not that I expect banks to get _that_ extreme. He doesn’t seem to be a massive monster supporter either, he doesn’t get involved in any conflicts. I’m drawing a blank here.”

“hey, I get it.” I smile to her, putting her hand in both of mine. I put my teeth to the back of her hand, the best comfort I could give her. “don’t worry, you’ve got me on your side helping you out. we can get through it together. remember underground?” Well, how could we forget? She didn’t remember any of the other timelines, but she assured me that Chara’s presence had entirely gone. I believed her, she’d shown me her SOUL full front, from every angle, it was hers and it just seemed that little bit brighter now. Like the shadowy demon had finally let go of her SOUL once and for all. She was still the same as ever, only those distant thoughtful looks were reserved only for when she was working. With it, however, we were sure she couldn’t RESET anymore. It’d never been tested, not that we wanted to risk testing it, but we were sure with Frisk’s past experience that RESETs didn’t exist above ground. Perhaps it had something to do with magic particles in the air in Underground brought about because monsters were trapped underground with nowhere else for the magic to go? Perhaps her SOUL was able to manipulate them to bent reality to their will and so to rewind time, much like the machine the old man and I had worked on? Only, she must’ve been using her SOUL power as well somehow? She was only able to RESET to a point, the day before she fell down Underground.

Except that one time…

I pushed those thoughts behind me. I had given up trying to understand how it worked now. Not when it didn’t matter anymore. Not when the power no longer existed. It was time to move on to a new life now, away from… that. I was doing my best, I was doing better. Thanks to Frisk’s and Paps’ support. Just being able to talk to them every day, to remember that every day is a new day was a huge help.

Frisk nodded, I’m sure she sometimes remembered the good and horrific times underground. I’m sure she still remembers what it’s like to die. “I remember. We’ve just got to be a lot more careful this time around. No RESETs to help us if we mess up this time.” She shook her head, an apologetic smile on her face. “I know the RESETs were hell on you, because of before… sorry. I shouldn’t keep wishing them back.” I understood why she would, even if I hated them with a passion. I was probably more jealous than anything, I probably would not have cared if I hadn’t the foggiest that time was being pushed back.

“I get it. the last RESET you didn’t manipulate them out of your own free will. I could tell that much. besides, we needed it to get here. I guess I can’t hate it all that much.” I smiled to her. “let’s get to our old shenanigans huh? Hack this account, look for a murderer, get home, have dinner, suffer dog love, then suffer sweet love in the bedroom.” I kept a huge grin on my face, pushing my skull on her legs and looking up at her similar to what Shadow did often enough.

It worked to lighten her mood as she couldn’t help but smile and let a laugh escape. Success! She pushed my head back, wrapping her arms around my neck as she bent down to look at the computer screen over my shoulder. “If you’re lucky enough and the dogs don’t steal me, that is.” By dogs, she meant two. After Shadow had been more or less retired and now a house pet most of the time, we bought him a pal a couple of weeks ago. He was my dog, a Siberian Husky I let Paps name them Snowy. They were white with big ice blue eyes, the cutest thing ever and always successfully begged a treat off anyone who visited the house. I wondered sometimes if Tori visited just to see him, rather than us.

I typed away at the keyboard, searching for any way I could possibly look into his latest customers he had been dealing with. It took a good few minutes, but we got inside finally to only his most recent clients. Names were the only thing that came up, all other details had been hidden or weren’t shown up for security reasons. It didn’t matter, names were all I was looking for so I could begin seeing if any of them were on our database. If they had ever been to the police HQ, processed, arrested or simply visiting an inmate in jail, their information and fingerprints were stored on a database for occasions such as this. Chances are, some of them may have their information here somewhere, though not necessarily. His last client was a name that I didn’t recognise, but I felt Frisk stiffen around my neck which had me worrying.

Cybil Horton.

She pushed away and off me, standing straight and her breath was quickening. I turned, looking to her worried. “hey, hun, frisk, what’s wrong?”

She shook her head, hugging her arms against herself. “I didn’t… I know him, yeah. He’s bad business. I don’t understand how he’s… he can’t be involved in this.”

I tilted my head, swinging in my chair so the spine of the back of the chair went between my legs and I leaned my skull on the headrest. “how could he not? clearly he had deals with this guy.” Maybe he was a past criminal of Frisk’s? It was the best thing I could think of that she’d remember a name like that.

Frisk shook her head. “This is bad. Cybil Horton is a criminal, yes. He’s been charged here before. For murder.” My eye sockets widened. Could it be? A repeated murder as soon as he got out of jail? Or lay in wait, believing to have been reformed and struck out again? It seemed a likely reason. “For murder and attempted murder. He’s been in jail for years, fifteen so far. He was jailed for so long because of how he had murdered the person. He’s a real piece of work.” She took a deep breath, as if remembering it in vivid detail, as she continued. “He killed her, stabbed her, sliced her to pieces, chopped her up. He completely lost it. One minute there was a domestic argument, then the next… the whole kitchen was covered in blood. There are some police officers here who don’t talk about it, not sure how to react to it. It’s one of the most brutal murders we’ve had in a long time. He’d tried to murder another, but she got away thankfully. But that’s just it. This isn’t his murder method, not to mention the fact that he’s still in jail. I don’t see what he’s got to do with it.”

He did sound like a nasty human. Very… similar to _her_. He had suddenly lost it? Just like that in an argument? “maybe there’s something wrong with his SOUL? it seems very similar to how you had reacted with… you know?”

Frisk seemed to freeze at that possibility. Something I had said… it upset her, a lot. I wasn’t sure what it was, the suggestion? She shook her head, turned into business Frisk. “We’ll talk about it later. Let’s get that shut down and head to Callum’s house. There must be more clues there. His house keys were in the briefcase, if we find anything at the house we can see if it’ll link with anything Diana has to tell us.” She motions for me to follow her. I sigh, glancing at the computer screen one last time, before I got up on my feet. I’d have to remember the name.

Cybil Horton.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what could that name possibly mean? And what about that crime history, huh? 
> 
> I am so bad at making suspense and like trying to appear mysterious. I apologise profusely haha. 
> 
> I hope you guys preferred this change to the story. I felt better writing it, though there is a lot of backtracking to explain everything that has happened in the two years. I just didn't think I could write it interestingly enough going straight from leaving Mt Ebott. I'm not great at huge time skips and honestly, this feels like better territory. 
> 
> Anyway. Let me know what you think! I'd love to hear your thoughts! If you commented on chapter 1 before, so sorry they've been deleted as I changed the chapters over! ;.; Feel free to comment them again, I loved them all! <3 
> 
> Thanks guys and I hope you enjoy this new direction we're headed in!
> 
> ~Blackie


	2. Secret to Die For

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heading to Callum's house, Frisk eventually spills the beans on who Cybil Horton was and what he had done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. I did a retard and cut my finger open. My left index finger so my writing capabilities had been slowed down significantly suddenly. That and the coming to Christmas means more delays. Argh sorry! Life sucks :c ;.;
> 
> I'd meant to have more mystery, but I guess I wasn't in the mood in the end xD haha I hope you enjoy what I've got written regardless! :P

Secret to Die For

The trip to Callum’s house was an awkward one. I felt like anything I could say wouldn’t have had Frisk reacting favourably. We were in her police car, the city zoomed past in a blur as I looked out the window pondering her reaction. Frisk didn’t hide much from me, not anymore. It was an old habit of hers, she wasn’t really the sharing type. I could understand that, it was something we had in common. Mine wasn’t exactly a choice, not after a few tens of RESETS. Telling others soon became a pointless affair when they never remembered it, when it made absolutely no difference and not once when I had tried, did anyone ever remember.

This… she has chosen to keep hidden. Perhaps it was something she was afraid of? It was definitely something significant, I remember watching her palms turn white, colour draining from her face I had only seen when she knew she was in deep, deep trouble. She turned almost as white as myself, I’d only seen it happen a couple of times before, but I remembered it clearly. This was something… perhaps, life changing. When I took a peak from the corner of my eyes to look at her, she was still driving and was looking straight ahead. I could only guess what her expression seemed… determined wasn’t the word I could use. But she seemed… resolved. She had a plan, she was completely in her police mode and nothing I was going to be able to say was going to get her out of that. This happened sometimes, usually when she really got into a case and was close to figuring it out, or a clue. We were clueless here. If what Frisk told me was true, then we had no idea who killed this man. A man who had no criminal record, no enemies, didn’t do much with social media, lived on his own, didn’t bother anybody else and simply worked as a banker.

In no time at all, we made it to his flat. The living room looked lived in enough, not untidy but certainly not spring clean. He had hoovered recently, yesterday’s newspaper was on the table, along with a few empty beer cans. He had dirty dishes lying in the sink ready to be done and would be waiting an eternity until the landlord came by to clean and dust the place ready for another tenant. It looked just like a bachelor’s house, exactly as I had expected but probably better than the way I would’ve left my own room should I have not met up with Frisk. There was nothing remarkable in this room, simply more or less what we expected.

“His room probably has better clues.” Frisk spoke as she walked into the room. “or his office, but a guy like him probably would have everything in his room. He lives alone, he doesn’t have to worry too much about it being in his humble abode since nobody will be in there.” She spoke as she walked away. I hurried to catch up, worried by the way she was acting. She seemed… distant. Like… she spoke, trying to hide emotions and she was doing just that, hiding _all_ emotions.

It caused a twinge in my SOUL. Without thought, without discussing and impulsively, I grabbed her hand, stopping her in her tracks. For a second. Then I dropped her hand when I realised what I did, looking away in embarrassment. It hadn’t been something I deliberately wanted to do or even thought about! My SOUL called for me to touch her, touch her energy, help her. What good can I do? But she stopped, I was waiting for her to ask me what I was doing or demand an explanation or to take the piss, but instead, she sighed loudly. Like the fight had gotten out of her. Resigned.

“Cybil Horton hits a lot closer to home than I wanted to tell you. It’s… a weight I didn’t think you were ready to hold yet. Just like you can’t tell me about your family, I’m hesitant to tell you about mine.” She turned her head to glance at me, watching my concerned face with a sorrow expression. Sorrow for me. Somehow. I didn’t understand why, why did I deserve such a pitying expression? “But I don’t think you’ll get much of a choice here.”

I wasn’t sure what to say. Really, what could I say that wouldn’t be awkward, or lame? Or seem like I’m only saying it for my own benefit rather than to comfort her.

Frisk didn’t seem too upset that I didn’t have an answer for her. She nodded her head, turned back and continued walking. She waited for me to realise and catch up. Short cut, of course. Naturally! “I can share what his murder was like, I’ve worked closely with the case and I’ve read all the reports, so I know everything there is to know about Cybil Horton.” She didn’t look at me as she spoke, as we made it up the stairs and came to Callum’s room, we assumed. “I can tell you everything. He pleaded guilty to the entire thing and he told us everything. Just so he gets a fairer sentence. Not that he could much, he laughed in court and said the bitch deserved it.” My SOUL curled and twanged. This. This was something we had been warned of, even as I knew some humans were just like this. Frisk had warned me, being a police officer, she had seen the best and worst. This was on the scale of almost as bad as… _her._

“how long…?” I was almost afraid to ask. Would he get out early, or would he be released into the world, free to act out and kill again, if his SOUL was corrupted as the demon’s had been.

“Twenty years. He’s serving twenty years and that’s only because he got a reduced sentence for _good behaviour._ ” Frisk almost gagged, as if she couldn’t believe such a thing could have been brought about. Like it was a crime that such a thing could’ve been allowed. “The jury will believe anything sometimes.” She muttered, probably to herself, but she didn’t seem too put off that I had overheard and had a sad smile on my face. She smiled back, as she continued to speak; “He won’t be getting out for a while still. Not by the looks of things. At least, I hope not.” She gulped, wrapping her arms around herself in a very out of character way for her. I’d never seen her react that way before, not to any monster, nor to any threat she’d faced. There… was a lot more than she was letting on.

“sweetheart, I get the feeling this ain’t just a murderer, is it?” I didn’t mean to push her, but I was curious. Not only that, I was afraid. Whatever made the most DETERMINED human I’d ever met nervous was something to be worried about. Not only for myself, but for her, for Papyrus, for my family.

She didn’t seem to answer, not yet. She nudged her head in the direction of the door to our destination and she went along ahead of me. I followed behind, seeing no reason not to. Frisk shut the door behind me ominously. What she had to say was for my ears alone.

“Promise you won’t tell anyone? Not even Papyrus?” Oh ho! Ah, that was a heck of a tall order. Even if I didn’t tell Paps everything, lately being on the surface, I’ve tried to make a habit of telling Paps everything I could (barring the gory details, of course, nobody wants to know _that_ , or dead bodies either). Frisk was asking me to break a promise to Paps. She knew, I didn’t make those lightly anymore, not after Papyrus confided in me that he’d rather hear it all than to find out for himself. I’d even told him the time I’d almost gotten run over, Frisk and I had walked the street and a car came screaming around the corner without looking. She’d managed to have the quick reflexes to pull me out of the road and away from the speeding car. They never slowed down or even stopped and Frisk didn’t manage to catch their car registration number to track them down and we never saw them again.

So, what she had to say must’ve been very important.

After deliberating it over in my head, I finally nodded my head, making a motion of zipping my mouth shut. “promise. but ya gotta tell him eventually. paps is like a brother to ya too, he sees you as a sister.”

“I know. That’s why I don’t want to tell him. Well... nobody else is meant to know either, I’m not meant to look in the case files about the crime. I’m not meant to… because Cybil is involved here, I should be dropping this immediately. But I won’t. If anything, I need to do this more than ever.” There was a spark of DETERMINATION from her SOUL, a bright light flashing from her chest I was sure only I could see. The ability to see another’s SOUL without having to draw it out into combat or to share your true self with another.

I shook my head, whilst it was great to see her DETERMINED, I didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. None of it was adding up. I was missing something crucial, something to add to the equation that was simply incompletable.

“what’s this guy got to do with… why’d you be thrown off?” I was confused. I still wasn’t entirely in the know of all the police rules, considering I only worked alongside them, a portion, rather than being completely involved in the case. It was different now, because she wasn’t acting… like herself. I hadn’t seen her this DETERMINED since we were Underground. And Underground was a fucked-up place, in a fucked-up situation.

“Because I’m involved.” She said simply, as if I was meant to know what that meant, or what she meant by that.

“how the fuck are ya involved?”

“Because I was there!” She snapped. Silence. I felt my magic disperse, a magic I had felt flowing in anticipation and anxiety. She was acting strange, out of place. But no. This. This was what…

Each iteration, each RESET, she always seemed to be driving forward, with a purpose. She had a clear goal in mind, most of the time she was kind and gentle. Others she was scared and trembling at most of the monsters. Then the bad RESETS, where it wasn’t her, a demon possessing her body, using her for its own selfish deeds. Over and over. Until she stopped. She disappeared for years. I thought it was over. I thought it was the end, the RESETS were over, time was flowing normally as if the whole thing had been a nightmare.

Until she turned up again, with a dog and a police uniform and so much older. A woman. An adult. I hadn’t realised humans could grow so big, nor undergo so much biological change in what seemed a rather short window of time.

I’d wondered, each and every RESET, why did she fall into the Underground, why was she near Mt Ebott. I wondered that more as I stayed with her above ground, moving to London away from her home town. A curiosity I always thought of when looking up at the solar system above me during sleepless nights, when my thoughts were too loud and wouldn’t shut up for the night. When I hoped perhaps Libra, or Cancer could help alleviate these thoughts.

But, this could answer it. She was involved, she was there. She told me the story. He killed a woman in an argument that went horribly wrong. He flipped, rampaged out of control, slicing and killing the woman without remorse, ripping her to shreds. When he was done with her, he turned his attentions to the other girl in the room. Who, if my maths and my assumptions were correct, was only a little kid back then. A little kid, who somehow got away from the monster, rushing out of her house, away from her town, and to the mountain where kids were said to go missing and disappear. Where else would she go, if she wanted to hide? She wanted to disappear, to survive. It was her best chance, to brave it out where children were said to never return.

So, each time she had been RESETTING from the start… she’d… each time. As I had seen my bother murdered in front of me, she saw a woman being killed in front of her, stabbed and sliced at, just like Paps. She had been living her own nightmare, one where she could do nothing but look on as a person she probably cared dearly about was ripped to shreds. She wouldn’t have been able to look away, capsized by the absolute horror of slaughter happening, the mind not fully registering the reality of the situation in front of them.

Just how I remember acting, watching Papyrus’ dust blow away in the wind and all that was left was his scarf to remember him by.

But a human body never disappears. Their bones left for years to rot underground, always a reminder of who and what they once were. I hadn’t ever realised it until now, now that some new history on Frisk had been told, we really shared a lot more in common than either of us realised. More, nobody, absolutely nobody, could really understand me just like she could. Not anymore.

The difference is, I had no idea if Frisk remembered each and every time seeing the woman being murdered in front of her eyes. I had no idea who the woman was or her relationship with Frisk. Though, my mind didn’t jump to very good conclusions. The worst ones, since Frisk never talks about her family.

Frisk spoke again, breaking my out of my train of thoughts. “I was there, I saw it with my own eyes. He was hacking away at her, cut her throat open like some… some animal to be gutted. He laughed as he…” She shook her head, a shine in her eyes I hadn’t seen before. She seemed extremely distressed, even as I put a hand down on hers.

“it’s okay. I know.” I told her. It was the truth. Though, maybe I won’t tell her the whole story. “I’ve seen paps die the same way. just… I got off a little easier. it only took one hit. not twenty.” Honestly, it didn’t sound much better like that. She seemed to appreciate it though, as she smiled. She brought a hand to her eyes, wiping the back of her hand on them as her eyes changed colour. Oh, ah, dang. I realise, crying. That is a thing humans do as well, just… the changing colours was a little. Three years, but I still was learning or remembering things.

“Life is shit. Yeah.” She breathed, before she got back into her cop mode. The serious face was switched on and her eyes focused more on the task at hand. “So, promise you won’t tell anyone? At least for now. If I do something stupid, then okay I’ll allow it.”

I winked, flashing a grin to her. “hey, don’t worry, sweetheart. you’re in good hands.”

Her grin that I loved to see so much returned to her face. The one that let me know she was okay playing this game. “I wouldn’t say these were particularly _good_ hands.”

Grinning and exposing my canines at her, manifesting my tongue ready, “’course not, darlin’. I’m _bad to the bone._ ” It seemed to cheer her up. It was the most that I could ask for. She had a smile on her face again. However, the task at hand. “looks like he kept his files all over the place.”

The quick change in topic reminded her of our job here. Whilst I would have loved to continue where it was headed, we did have a job to do. One with a potential time limit if anyone were to learn about this Cybil person and his previous murder. Surely, since he had been tried for his murder, the police knew Frisk was involved. She was more than likely a key witness. It would explain why it took so long for her to travel to Mt Ebott the last time she arrived. There was no need for her to disappear, at least not that time. Not until enough children started disappearing and she needed to act upon it. How the entire timeframe got changed and all the children fell down slower than their usual rate was beyond me. It was a terrifying thought to even consider that Frisk had any hand in that. A universe that would move as she did. It didn’t bear thinking about.

“Might take us some work, but I’m sure we can find any info on what Cybil was doing.”

Thus began hunting through the papers. We had started with the files first, thinking that perhaps going through the organised areas first would mean a quicker discovery. However, the only organised papers were ones from over a year ago, anything more recent than that was scattered in the nest of papers somewhere, or were in another folder entirely that he didn’t bring home.

“Ah ha! Found it!” Frisk cried out in triumph as she found a file under his bed, only a logical place to hide important files, of course. “Here it is. Looks like Cybil was opening a business account. Like, is he trying to run his own business or something? I don’t remember them allowing bankers to go visit him behind bars.”

Huh. “they can do that in prison? I thought you were stuck away from people, that was the point in prison. It’s what happened to undyne, nobody could see her the time she was there except you and alphys.”

“If you’re on good behaviour and you request it, so long as it is making a positive impact and a seemingly good change of heart, you can do that. You don’t lose your human rights or anything in prison, regardless of your crime. I did hear he was taking up a craft. Knitting, I believe.”

I stare at Frisk, dumbfounded. “excuse me if I find it hard to imagine the idea of a serial killer knitting.”

She smiled, shrugging her shoulders. “Don’t worry, I didn’t believe him either until he showed me.”

I blinked. “wah, wai- you still speak to the guy!?”

“It’s…” She hesitates. “I guess it’s cliché, but it is rather complicated to explain.” It didn’t answer any of the questions that I had. However, before I could push the matter, Frisk moved the conversation along, abandoning the topic. “By the looks of things, Cybil was the last client Callum saw before we assume he left. Or perhaps from another shift. We’d have to consider CCTV to confirm where he went last after we get his time of death. For now, Cybil is our best lead.”

She seemed put off about the idea, and I didn’t blame her one little bit. Who would want to see a murderer, your potential murderer again, in the flesh? Nevertheless, she was DETERMINED to figure this out. Regardless of the consequences.

That’s how we found ourselves at the County State London jail. Many questions were asked, Frisk talking quietly to the jailers and to reception desk. I could hear that she was asking for admittance to visit Cybil Horton. None of the jailers seemed at all surprised by her asking to visit, one even rolling their eyes as if this were inevitable or a complete waste of time. What was it I was missing? Surely, this means Frisk had visited Horton more than once? For what reason would Frisk have to be visiting Horton more than once? I was missing something absolutely crucial, something to piece together that would explain her erratic behaviour. If she was sure it wasn’t Cybil involved in this murder case, even if he was our only lead to knowing more about Callum, what had her worked up so much?

We sat on the other side of a window, one that looked thick enough to take on abuse from bullets. Frisk was quiet, she was nervous, fidgeting with her hands as she looked straight forward. She wouldn’t look at me. Not because she was ashamed of me or I had done anything wrong, but because, I assume, she had. What she’d done wrong, I could only imagine. Or what she would imagine I would get angry with her about, I didn’t have a clue. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know if there was anything I really could say.

A moment later that felt so much longer than it realistically had been, a man in cuffs and being lead by a guard came out from the other end of the glass. He looked… familiar. He was wearing prison garb of simple grey trousers and a white V neck shirt and black shoes. Only the blandest of the bland for prisoners. He had short brunette hair that seemed like he hadn’t looked after it in a while, the fringe of his hair almost covering his eyes. His brunette eyes that, again, seemed familiar, but this guy seemed rather unremarkable. He seemed very generic, and so I shrugged off the feeling. He probably looked familiar because he seemed so ordinary.

Until the man saw who was sitting down in front of him, waiting or him. Frisk Fanshaw. His frown changed and took a sudden sinister turn. His smile grew wide, his teeth on full show like a cartoon maniac. His eyes that looked dull and depressed suddenly changed, becoming deranged and maddening. I felt my SOUL falter, like if it were a real heart it’d have missed a beat, it almost felt like it was lurching out of my chest. I calmed my quivers, fearing my rattling bones would tip Frisk off at how uncomfortable I was sitting here, looking at a murderer. He didn’t have an LV. How could he? He had been in jail the entire time monsters came to the surface, he had no chance of gaining LV from monster dust. However, his SOUL wasn’t… it was red. DETERMINED. But not like Frisk’s. Not like hers. Frisk’s shone bright, shining and strong, it was a beautiful sight to behold. This person’s, Cybil Horton.

His reminded me of Chara’s. His SOUL was red, a dark red with almost a shadow behind it, a thick outline of black, his evil holding strong surrounding his entire SOUL. He was sick. Seriously ill and I doubted much there was a lot that could be done to a SOUL that had curled around and flourished in this shadow for so many years. He welcomed it, embraced it, allowed the shadowy tendrils to caress around his SOUL. This wasn’t like Frisk’s caught in a death trap being held to ransom by the shadowy presence that was Chara. He didn’t want to leave this embrace.

**Cybil Horton**

**LV 1 HP 89/110**

**He’s familiar. Dangerously familiar and dangerously distant.**

He stalked forward, not unlike a villain promising a bad time, the guard following close behind the entire time as he then sat down in the chair opposite ours. When I looked to Frisk on my right side, I was startled to realise she was white as a ghost. She was as white as Naptsablook, her hands were shaking violently and she looked like she was going to be sick. I was going to ask if she was okay, realising later that that was a stupid bloody question to ask. But she wasn’t looking at me, she hadn’t the entire time. Her focus had been on the future, preparing herself for this very moment, to face her attempted murderer. Whom remembered her very well, it would appear.

I saw motion out of the corner of my eyes. Looking up, I could see Horton reaching for something along the wall. A phone. He puts it to his ear, his grin never failing. His eyes looked her up and down, not unlike a predator, purposefully to creep her out. To make her uncomfortable. She seemed, when I looked, unfazed. She ignored his looks, looking past him with a stoic expression.

I was probably not meant to hear, but I could hear easily what he was saying through the phone.

“ _’ello Poppet. To what do I owe this pleasure?”_ His voice was scratchy, as if he hasn’t used his voice in a long time. He purred enough that Frisk closed her eyes, she made it seem like it was out of annoyance, but I knew better. She didn’t enjoy this visit.

“No pleasure. I’m here completely on business terms, Horton. I’ve gotten wind that you were opening a business account with a bank thanks to a man called Callum Leonard.” Her voice was curt and quick. Police Frisk mode.

“ _If I knew you’d care so much, I’d have told you._ ” His tone was teasing, his grin didn’t let up. He turned his eyes to me, although he didn’t react otherwise. He’d seen a monster before, other than himself of course. “ _For your information, officer, I was setting myself up ready to run my own business should I get out of here. I’ve got friends here who recommended I try commissioning my knitting, make a living when I get out in the world._ ”

Frisk huffed, her nose almost snorting in anger. “Find it hard to believe you ever intend on making an honest living when you’re out in the world.”

“ _I wouldn’t say an honest living but a good enough living. I’ve only got two more years behind these bars.”_

Frisk looked tense as she muttered; “Unfortunately.” She took a deep breath before she continued speaking, “When was the last time you saw Callum?”

This was when Cybil faltered. He hadn’t been expecting this line of questioning and his grin slipped from his face. “ _Three days ago, he arrived during visiting hours at about 11am._ ”

“How did he seem when you saw him last? Was he worried at all?”

“ _No. It was business as usual. Why are you asking this?_ ”

“What did you discuss? Was it about your setting up an account?”

“ _Frisk._ ” It was the first time he ever called her by her name. The first time he didn’t seem off put. “ _What happened to Callum?_ ” He looks in my direction. “ _Is this why you brought the monster?_ ”

“Leave him out of it.” She snapped harshly, her grip on the phone growing hard and fierce.

He looked back to me again, giving me a strange long look. I simply stared back, trying not to show how much he unnerved me. He seemed… almost normal, worryingly so. When he was speaking with Frisk, he didn’t seem like the deranged murderer I had envisioned. Not like I imagined him to be. Not like Chara had been.

He looked back to Frisk, a smile on his face. “ _I guess I should have expected you to like a monster, I shouldn’t be surprised. You always were a weird one. But I’m guessing you bought him for a reason? You don’t let just anyone see me._ ” The way he worded it. It seemed… bizarre. This whole situation still had me guessing what this guy meant to Frisk. Why would she come visit this murderer that is stuck behind bars, let alone one that had tried to _kill her_? You didn’t forgive that easily for any reason.

Frisk didn’t seem to answer him, not the question that he had just asked, anyway. “Callum was found dead behind a pub late last night. Looks like he was strangled to death and his body thrown in the bin. Figured you might know something since you’ve seen Callum recently.”

“ _Ah, I see. Because I’m a murderer, clearly I would have a clue as to why a person I knew would be dead. Sorry to disappoint, poppet. I don’t have murderous friends, strangling isn’t my style and it would be very unbeneficial to me to have my banker dead. Whoever did it, they’re a right bastard, it was going so well too._ ” And that’s when I realised, he wasn’t normal at all. Normal people would not react this way. It’s as Frisk had told me, only it must be rather obvious that I could notice it. A psychopath, the lack of empathy for another. Something that Cybil Horton himself was showing right now. The fact he was focusing on the fact that his business bank account would be affected and possibly delayed, rather than asking about Callum’s death or why he might’ve been killed at all. He’d spoken to him over a few weeks, maybe even months, and he hadn’t cared. How could you talk to another for weeks and not feel empathy for them? Even after dealing with Chara for RESETS upon RESETS, a monster would not be a monster if they couldn’t feel empathy. I am sure, if a monster could no longer feel empathy, they would not be a monster for too long. Monsters, who were made of love and kindness, wouldn’t be monsters without them.

“My heart bleeds for you. So, you have no information at all to bring to light in Callum’s death? No enemies, no reason for his death you can see?”

“ _Not unless he got into unhealthy gambling. We only ever spoke business and it never moved on beyond that. He always seemed rather nervous each time he saw me._ ”

“gee, I wonder why.” I muttered quietly. Too quietly for Cybil to have possibly heard me. However, he must’ve done, or realised I had heard what he said or had an idea what he was saying as his eyes whipped my way. He looked rather surprised, at first, then his grin grew wild, dangerous.

“ _You never did tell me why the monster was over. He your partner or something? Seems underdressed for that._ ”

“That’s none of your concern. Now, back to-”

“ _You really care about him. You haven’t told him, have you?_ ” Told me?

Told me _what_?

“He’s not involved in this at all! There’s no need-”

“ _He has no idea what you’ve gotten him into. Aren’t you going to introduce me at all?_ ”

“He doesn’t need to-”

“frisk, don’t do what you don’t want to do. It’s okay.” I tried telling her. Tried to reassure my fears. But before she could show any gratitude, before she could even smile, Horton spoke again.

“ _I’m Cybil Horton, and Frisk there is my daughter._ ”

Silence. Frozen. Serial killer, Cybil Horton, is father to Detective Inspector Frisk Fanshaw. I disbelieved it right away, they didn’t even share the same surname, but Frisk’s reaction stopped me. Her SOUL stopped moving, from the corner of my eye. When I focused, it had stopped. She was frozen, petrified of me, of my reaction. I couldn’t react. This was confirmation; Frisk was related to a serial killer. Her influence from Chara made sense suddenly, how she could’ve been easily influenced if she… but that seemed preposterous! Madness did not necessarily pass on through the genes simply like that. Trauma would play a huge part, it was something in the mind that caused a person to snap. Genes meant nothing. As horrible as it might’ve seemed, I do not believe that Frisk being related to a mad psychotic father played any contribution to Chara taking over her body more easily. But, wow, the world sure played a huge joke. Like father like daughter.

I hadn’t realised Frisk had dropped the phone and stormed out of the room. I blinked, spotting her moving fast and was about to call her name, but she was out of the door. Shit. I’d taken too long to react, I’d upset her. She took my hesitance as a negative reaction, silence did speak volumes.

A loud bang from the window shook me, making me jump as I turned to see Cybil still holding the phone to his ear. Nervous, wondering what it was he had to say, I picked the phone Frisk had dropped. Then, when I held the phone to my ears, he spoke. “ _Even if Frisk has forsaken my family name, she is still mine. She’s my blood, mine to do as I please. Deep down, just like any human, she could turn into a killer. I’m warning you now, from me or her, I’d stay away from Frisk. Just in case you want to find out what a real monster is._ ” It was a threat. A threat I didn’t take lightly. This bastard, stuck behind bars, killed Frisk’s own mother, tried to kill her only to be foiled by his own daughter. But, it was hard to completely ignore the fact, whilst it wasn’t Frisk, it wore Frisk’s face as it killed all those monsters Underground, strangers and my own brother…

But I had to remember, it wasn’t Frisk! It was Chara. I saw with my own eyes, her SOUL had changed, she was herself now, the sinister shadow clinging to her heart had disappeared. Her eyes were not red anymore, the more telling sign of Chara and the way her body became stiff and unresponsive unless violence was involved. I pushed those away. I’d lived with her for two years now and we hadn’t had an incident for a long time. We trusted each other enough. This was something she would have to talk to me about, but I could understand why she didn’t want to tell me. Not when the subject was so sensitive.

Nonetheless, I wasn’t going to allow this man ruin what we had going. Not when she needed the help from someone she trusts than a betrayal by someone she had abandoned.

I kept the phone close to my mouth as I spoke, unsure if it made a difference; “she is her own person, she can make her own decisions. I’m just going to be there whatever she chooses.” Though, I never told him that I probably wouldn’t ever take it well if she told me to get lost.

“ _It’s gonna end in ashes for ya, monster. Good luck catching your killer, but don’t forget they could be right in front of your eyes._ ” He put the phone down away from his ear and down against the wall on the holder. I watched as he stood up and was lead away in his chains back into a jail cell. I waited until the door closed, before I disappeared to go find Frisk and right my wrong. I had to make sure, I had to apologise, but we also had to talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun duuuuun. 
> 
> You know it's never good when they need to talk. 
> 
> Not much else to say honestly. Finger still hurts. :'c hoping it gets better soon haha P: 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> ~Blackie

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed~ Thanks for any kudos and if you have any questions or advice or wanna leave a note, leave a comment! I always read them, I just dunno what to say most of the time. I'm a social wreck haha. 
> 
> Fancy supporting me more? Buy me a coffee! Or tea. http://ko-fi.com/blackwolfdragoon
> 
> Until next time, my lovelies~!
> 
> ~Blackie


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